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    Home » Craft Tutorials

    How to Make a Pocket Folding Fan (Video)

    February 10, 2020 By Brandy 9 Comments

    This pocket folding fan is so easy to make and folds up perfectly to store in a pocket on a hot day. It is such a unique and fun craft idea for kids! They can decorate the front with simple artwork then secure with popsicle sticks & a rubber band! This post contains affiliate links.

    If you like paper crafts try our paper rainbow!

    This DIY pocket fan fold up & store perfectly in a pocket for hot days. It is such a unique and fun craft idea for kids! They can decorate the front with simple artwork then secure with popsicle sticks & a rubber band!

     

    Watch our step by step video!

    The girls and I had fun making these little fans for summer. They are quick to make and can be customized a thousand ways by adding drawings and designs on the front! We'll take the classic folded paper fan with accordion style creases and take it up a notch. A pocket fan that can be used over and over!

    child holding paper fan

    This is a refresh of our original post shared in 2016.

    DIY Pocket Folding Fan Tutorial

    child coloring on plain white paper
    Decorate your paper first or use solid colors. It’s up to you! I will show you how we make paper fans using plain copy paper. It works great!

    3 pieces of paper and 2 popsicle sticks and 1 rubber band on cutting mat

    Supplies for pocket folding fan:

    (3) 5×8″ rectangle pieces of plain white copy paper

    2 popsicle sticks (craft sticks)

    1 tiny hairband

    tool for scoring

    straight edge (ruler) for scoring

    paper scored and folded accordion style

    Instructions for making a pocket folding fan:

    • Score each paper on the ½″ mark. You can fold it without scoring, but scoring will help children get even folds all the way across.
    • Accordion fold each piece of paper. Then fold each piece of paper in half.
    • Using a glue stick or hot glue gun, adhere each fan piece together until you have one seam left.
    • Glue a popsicle stick to each side.

    paper pocket fan glued to two popsicle sticks
    Close with a mini hair band and it is ready to travel with you!

    open pocket fan
    Use the mini hair band to keep closed when your fan is open.

    two pocket fans, one is open and one is closed

    What a fun way to display all of those cute drawings that kids make! These pocket folding fans would be a fun summer camp craft, birthday party activity or activity for a classroom party!

    kids sewing book cover
    For 60 more fun projects, check out my sewing book for kids!

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    About Brandy

    Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!

    Comments

    1. Troop 9504 says

      April 23, 2019 at 9:42 am

      I'm having my girl scouts make them.for mothers day.

      Reply
      • Brandy says

        April 23, 2019 at 1:02 pm

        That is such a great idea!

        Reply
    2. Dee says

      July 28, 2016 at 11:53 pm

      These are adorable! Thanks a bunch for sharing at Merry Monday!

      Reply
    3. Nici Higby says

      July 27, 2016 at 1:19 pm

      These are seriously the cutest things ever! Thanks so much for sharing them at my Creative Ways Link Party! We'll be making some of these real soon!
      Blessings,
      Nici

      Reply
    4. Teresa says

      July 24, 2016 at 1:52 pm

      These are so cute. My granddaughter loves fans and would really love making her own. So I see these in our future! Thank you for sharing!

      Reply
    5. Julie says

      July 22, 2016 at 2:51 am

      We've just been to a wedding where they had made these for all the guests, they work brilliantly! I love the idea of using kids pictures to make them - so clever.

      Reply
    6. JESS44903 says

      July 20, 2016 at 12:38 pm

      What a fun activity!

      I’d love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, and tips: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/

      Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

      Reply
    7. Anne Birdsong says

      July 20, 2016 at 5:26 am

      Hi Brandy, I'm Anne, and I'm visiting from Inspire Me Wednesday. This is great! I used to love doing craft projects with my kids when they were younger, but mine never looked this nice! I'm going to show this to my daughter who works with young kid, I know she'll love doing this with them! Anyway, have a wonderful day, and I hope you can pop over to my blog (https://birdsongbitsandpieces.blogspot.com) sometime to say hi!

      Reply
    8. Katie Gambone (Button-jar.com) says

      July 18, 2016 at 7:27 pm

      I love this! So cute. I bet kids would love doing this too. Thanks for the idea! Especially on such a hot day!

      -Katie
      button-jar.com/blog

      Reply

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